KEXP Reviews

Guero is Beck’s most musically vibrant recording since his groundbreaking 1996 album Odelay. Like that album, this one’s produced by the Dust Brothers, but Guero isn’t simply Odelay redux. While some of the new songs share Odelay’s kitchen-sink dance-party aesthetic, others would sound more at home on other Beck albums, from the bossa nova-flavored Mutations to the down-home folk set One Foot in the Grave. In short, Guero is Beck successfully synthesizing different aspects of his multi-faceted career. Lyrically, the album is also considerably different from the mostly fun, good-times party vibe of Odelay – despite the often-upbeat music, this one’s considerably darker and shares more in common lyrically with downer albums like Sea Change and Mutations. Overall, it’s Beck’s strongest album in quite awhile. 3/24/2005
- Don Yates